We’re looking forward to introducing you to Shuchi. Check out our conversation below.
Shuchi, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: Who are you learning from right now?
I am currently learning a great deal from both my supervisors and my students.
At times, balancing my roles as an artist, entrepreneur, and professor can be challenging. In those moments, I often look to my students for inspiration. Many of them successfully manage multiple jobs while taking demanding studio courses, and their dedication motivates me to work even harder. It drives me to bring meaningful, industry-relevant experiences into the classroom—opportunities that will strengthen their portfolios and help them pursue careers aligned with their aspirations, ideally without the burden of juggling so many responsibilities.
I also draw inspiration from my supervisors, who navigate administrative duties, teach advanced courses, and continue to practice actively in their professional fields. Their commitment to excellence and their steady patience in the workplace encourage me to approach my own endeavors with greater calm, focus, and resilience.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
“A line is a line until you give it your imagination, and a word is a word until you give it your story.”
This belief has shaped my creative and academic journey. My longstanding fascination with the relationship between words and images ultimately guided me away from my earlier studies in Engineering and Management and toward the field of comic studies, where narrative and visual expression converge.
Today, I serve as an Assistant Professor of Comics and Illustration in the School of Art and Design at Kennesaw State University. Alongside my academic work, I run a comic and animation education business that partners with after-school programs across the United States, and I freelance as a cartoonist for The New Yorker.
I am currently exploring opportunities to expand my business into Atlanta, Georgia, with the goal of creating a launchpad for my graduating students as they enter the professional world. In parallel, I am pitching my long-form graphic novel, I Left My Heart in Stuttgart, to publishers and preparing a research paper for my upcoming presentation at the Popular Culture Association Conference in Atlanta this April.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My mentors saw me clearly long before I fully saw myself.
During my time as a student at California College of the Arts, the program chair in 2017, Matt Silady, often reassured me that I was “the least of his worries.” At the time, I could not understand how he had such confidence in my potential as a comic artist, particularly given that I entered the program with no formal background in the arts. In hindsight, he recognized something I had yet to see—that success was not solely a matter of innate talent but of commitment, discipline, and a willingness to develop one’s craft.
In 2021, writer and editor Maggie Messitt offered me a residency that became a turning point in my career. It was a significant leap of faith on her part, especially considering that I identified not as a traditional writer but as a nonfiction graphic novelist. That residency ignited my professional momentum, leading to my first publication in The New Yorker and, soon after, a faculty position as an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University.
My current mentor, Geo Sipp, has been instrumental in shaping my academic trajectory. His trust in my teaching, scholarship, and service has encouraged me to grow both as a practicing artist and as a researcher within the field of comics. I remain deeply grateful for the guidance, motivation, and confidence that my mentors have provided throughout my evolving journey as a comic artist.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
In 2021, I reached a pivotal moment in my life. My marriage was falling apart, and with no stable place to live, I made the difficult decision to fully commit to my writer’s residency. Paradoxically, the uncertainty of that period gave me the strength to move forward. With no clear safety net and nowhere else to turn, progress became my only option.
That experience—and the broader instinct to survive—has given me a deeper resilience than success alone ever could. Prosperity often attracts support, but in difficult times, one is forced to rely on inner resolve. I firmly believe that struggle has the capacity to shape us in ways that achievement cannot, fostering a strength that becomes foundational to personal and creative growth.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
I have always believed that the harder you work, the luckier you become. While luck is often described as being in the right place at the right time, I am convinced that sustained discipline and dedication create their own opportunities. When you commit wholeheartedly to your craft, your work begins to speak for itself—loudly enough that the world cannot easily overlook it.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
If I had limited time left in my life, I would choose to disengage from individuals whose negativity obstructs my goals. My vision is twofold: to create art that challenges convention and offers something truly original, and to build a platform where my students and fellow comic artists are valued—and compensated—as equitably as professionals in fields such as the technology sector. The comics industry is often dismissed or misunderstood, and if time were short, I would focus on eliminating that noise entirely, preserving my energy for the work and the community that matter most.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.shuchitamishra.com
- Instagram: Shuchita_M
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuchita-mishra-7221b610/
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